Conventional practice relating to return receipt, registered, insured and certified mail has been to affix a return receipt to the envelope or other mailer containing the document or other item to be mailed. When the mailer is delivered by the Postal Service, the recipient acknowledges receipt of the mailer by endorsing the return receipt. The return receipt is then detached from the mailer and returned by the Postal Service to the sender as proof of receipt of the mailer. The customary return receipt used for this purpose consists of a post card which is detachably secured at its ends to gummed tabs which provide for the requisite attachment to the mailer.
For certified mail, a receipt additionally is affixed to the mailer. The customary receipt for certified mail includes a gummed end portion which contains identifying indicia and a removable portion which contains the same identifying indicia. When the mailer is deposited with the receiving Post Office for mailing, the removable portion is appropriately marked as received by the receiving Post Office, removed from the gummed end portion which remains affixed to the mailer, and returned to the sender as proof of receipt of the thusly identified mailer by the receiving Post Office.
As recognized by applicant herein, such conventional practice does not provide any guarantee or proof that the document in the mailer was received by the recipient who endorsed the return receipt. The receiver can deny having received the document such as by claiming that the mailer was empty or contained a different document than that actually mailed by the sender, and the sender has no way of proving or determining the veracity of such assertions.